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The Christmas Dinner 2016: We crowdfund goodwill.

The Christmas Dinner is in the Observer today as one of fifty new radical ideas. So here’s where The Christmas Dinners are at: This year The Christmas Dinner will be in Oxford, London Liverpool Leeds and Manchester. This may change. I hope more people do it. It is easier to say you’ll do it than actually do it. I define Christmas Dinner as including presents, taxis to pick up and drop off the young people, professional chef, top class food and waiter service, holiday food to take home. Games for the day and film showing for the day. Here’s the How To Guide. Do it. You can find out the practical nature of it by reading these blogs. Below are videos from 2013, 2014 and 2015.

What makes it radical? We are not an organisation: there is no boss. And yet we are more organised. There are more checks and balances. Nobody is paid. We are crowdfunders of goodwill. It is an important element that our community can support the care leaver. This is central to the idea: The steering group for each Christmas Dinner is made of people from the area. Each steering group has over an hundred years experience of working with young people in care. Also each steering group has up to an hundred years experience of working in creative industries. In other words “This is not just any old Christmas Dinner.” Here’s an article I wrote in the guardian.

The PA Network are collecting Secret Santa parcels for the Manchester Christmas dinner – can’t make their event to drop off donated parcels but happy to collect at our firm. Please put me in touch with a Manchester contact so I can arrange logistics.

maraliyn what a kind offer. I’m afraid we can’t accept money by phone. We will be campaigning next year to raise money for many Christmas Dinners. So if you keep your eye out and catch our campaign then your help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou so much.